As a first step, we contacted the ever-reliable Teresa and Roman Skrypko from the Polish community in Ballarat for assistance. We then approached Jane Smith, the director of Museum of Australian Democracy Eureka, who was committed to having the Solidarity exhibition at M.A.D.E. from the initial meeting. Jane, on behalf every Solidarity activist who is here with us today, I would like to thank you sincerely for your assistance. As you know, securing this very special museum for democracy, here in Ballarat, for this particular exhibition, means a lot to us. Also my thanks to Ryszard Konikowski who played a significant role in putting this exhibition together, using his highly developed skills as an artist.

Solidarno¶æ means a lot because it represents the struggle of our home country, Poland, that is almost the same size of Victoria, but where 36 million people lived in fear; where there was no democracy; no freedom of speech; no freedom of association; only one political party; limited food and housing; and the repression of people who were considered the opposition of the Polish Communist regime.

The Solidarity freedom movement is something that Poles all over the world, and here in Australia, can be very proud of. Thirty-three years ago, ten million people joined the independent trade union called Solidarity following years of oppression, lack of hope and living in fear in a political system that was imposed on the Polish nation following six long years of war.

Elizabeth Szczepanska, president of the Australian Polish Historical Society, said when opening this exhibition in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, Victoria, in 2005: “I would like to dedicate this exhibition to all people who lost their lives for a free and independent Poland. The soldiers fighting in different parts of the world during World War II and the ten million Poles who opposed the communist regime in 1980. I would also like to acknowledge the Australian government, who provided financial and moral support, including assistance to Solidarity activists and their families. It is the Australian government who was not afraid of accepting Solidarity activists as its future citizens, by providing the so-called one-way visa which meant that those activists were to never to return to Poland. The Polish government at the time was too afraid of them and considered them dangerous because they wanted freedom and were asking for basic human rights.”

It is a privilege that some of those so-called dangerous people are here with us today and I would like to mention their names: Zofia Kwiatkowska-Dublaszewski, vice-president of the Polish Political Prisoners Association in Australia, who was given a five-year prison sentence for participating in strikes during martial law in Poland in 1981; Stanislaw Zdziech and Bogdan Platek who were arrested and imprisoned for their participation in Solidarity activities; and Monika Wiench.

I would like to emphasise that the birth of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in a Soviet-bloc country, commenced with earlier generations – our fathers and grandfathers – who were being killed in Stalin’s prisons, executed at Katyn and other places of mass murder. It can be said that the struggle for freedom in Poland started in 1939, followed by strikes and revolts led by the people against the government in Poznan, 1956; Warsaw, 1968; Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, 1970; and Radom, 1976. All of these attempts ended in bloody repression by the Communist government at the time. It is believed that 1.3 million Poles lost their lives due to the Communist regime’s violent suppression throughout Eastern Europe.

It is widely accepted that Pope John Paul II was the person who helped Solidarity to become established. He visited Poland in 1979 and said these famous words to the people: “Do not be afraid.” He continued: “Niech zstapi Duch Twoj i odnowi oblicze ziemi, tej ziemi. (Let your Spirit descend and renew the face of the Earth, of this land.)”

Od lewej: Stan Zdziech, Jane Smith, Zofia Kwiatkowska - Dublaszewski, Bogdan Platek, Elzbieta Drozd, Ryszard Konikowski

The Solidarity path to freedom was not an easy one. Just over a year since the Solidarity trade union formed, the Communist government declared martial law on 13 December 1981 and the self-governing trade union became illegal. Approximately ten thousand activists were arrested and interned in fifty detention centres and prisons and strikes were suppressed. Despite the terror, from the first days of martial law, the union activists who escaped arrest organised secret structures for Solidarity. The struggle continued until the first quasi-democratic election in 1989. Today, it is widely accepted that, due to Solidarity, Communist regimes fell across Eastern Europe. What started as a demand for twenty-one rights, has had a profound effect on Poland and the world. The Solidarity movement is a shining example of what people power can achieve, including eliminating terror, fear and oppression.

I know for many Poles present, Poland today is not what you hoped and fought for. But right now, here at M.A.D.E., we are celebrating the contribution of the brave people who considered themselves ordinary workers but who took on an extraordinary task of securing freedom without guns or violence.

Elizabeth Drozd
Ballarat, 26 October 2013